Record Number of Misconduct Allegations Made Against New York School Employees

By AL BAKER

January 8, 2013

A record number of allegations of wrongdoing against teachers and other Department of Education workers were received last year by the office that investigates misconduct in New York City schools, according to a report released on Tuesday.

The office of the Special Commissioner of Investigation for the Department of Education handled 4,173 complaints, more than double the amount received during 2002, the first year of the Bloomberg administration.

The office found enough cause to begin 795 investigations, substantiating accusations in 247 of them. Of those, 57 centered on accusations of sexual misconduct by school employees or vendors, a majority of them educators with access to children.

Besides a 20 percent increase in sexual misconduct complaints, the office fielded many complaints about fraud, test-tampering, theft of money and time, conflicts of interest and other wrongdoing, said the commissioner, Richard J. Condon.

He said the increase could be attributed to easier reporting, including over the Web, and to more awareness of misconduct, particularly regarding cases of a sexual nature, which can include verbal comments, harassment or possible criminal behavior.

The school system was embarrassed last year by a string of arrests of employees accused of touching young students, including some who had previously been disciplined for inappropriate contact with children but who had been allowed to keep working with them.

The schools chancellor, Dennis M. Walcott, ordered a review of past cases of sexual misconduct, moved to fire more than a dozen teachers previously accused, and began lobbying, unsuccessfully so far, for the power to fire teachers even if an independent hearing officer decides they should stay on the job. Teachers convicted of a sexual crime are, in most cases, fired automatically, but those accused of noncriminal behavior are entitled to a hearing if the chancellor wants to fire them.

One report issued last year by Mr. Condon concerned an assistant principal at a Brooklyn high school who, investigators said, had asked three 15-year-olds who met with him about summer jobs if they were sexually active. In another case, Mr. Condon’s office said it found an “inappropriate sexual relationship” between one Queens middle-school teacher and a teenager.

That teacher was arrested, removed from his school and is facing dismissal, according to the Department of Education; the assistant principal was reassigned away from classrooms and faces disciplinary proceedings.